René Gonzalez, one of the five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters held in the U.S. and who currently is under three-year probation after serving a 13-year prison term, sent the Cuban people a message after returning to the United States following a visit granted on humanitarian basis to his ill brother in Cuba for a two-week period.
“My words are not aimed at those who expected to criticize me by anticipating that my stay in Cuba would become a political act; however they do it now because it was an example of discretion. This is my essential duty before to a people that perceived as theirs the relief of this parenthesis in time…,” Rene explains in his message.
As it was informed, the request for my trip to Cuba had a humanitarian character in the context of the supervised freedom or probation. It was not a favor or a political request, but a situation foreseen in the law, he points out. “…and because of this you can understand the low profile given to my visit to Cuba, which might have been surprising for some…who saw the possibility of some public demonstrations of joy. The limitations imposed by the nature of my trip made it impossible for that, except for spontaneous moments in some places in which my presence was inevitable for reasons related to my own gratefulness of past experiences; add to this, the time restrictions due to the meeting with my family and with my sick brother, which was the cause of my trip.”
Rene explains that back to the “world of the absurd” he is now willing to keep the long battle for justice. It was crucial that my behavior in Cuba were extremely moderated. It was unthinkable not to return to the U.S. But I bring in my heart the intense experience of the past fourteen days along my people, with whom we will celebrate the return of the Five one day.
René González Sehwerert